Turkey Harvest

Earlier this year, I came home from Murdoch's, the local ranch supply store, with 10 baby chicks and high hopes for self-sufficiency, at least in the egg department. However, to Bill's chagrin, as if the chicks weren't enough, I also got suckered into picking up three baby turkeys as well. I thought, what the hell, why not?

We'd come to enjoy the soon-to-be giant gobblers, who, when allowed to roam, basically followed us around like they were our pets. Whitey, the only female, really had a thing for me, while the two Toms basically flirted with whatever walked by.

So, this morning, Bill and I both awoke with a certain feeling of dread in the pits of our stomachs, as today, at 23 weeks old, our turkeys were facing harvest day. None the less, we were resolved to having three birds in the freezer by nightfall. Getting the damn things out of our crafty turkey/chicken arena proved to be one of the most difficult, as we didn't build a gate into the 6 foot high fence that made up the bird corral, and by now, two of the three turkeys were too big to fit back through the chicken door into the coop, which we had access to.

We managed to wrangle a ladder over the fence, and somehow were able to lift the big birds up and over without falling and breaking our own necks. We both sustained a few flaps to the face in the process.

Thanks to a tutorial on turkey processing (kudos to Howling Duck Ranch), we managed to proceed with our own turkeys fairly efficiently. The dunking tank, to prep the birds for de-feathering, is a drum that we hope to eventually turn into the stove to heat a wood-fired sauna.

The dogs stuck close all day long, and were rewarded eventually with some cooked up gizzards.

Here's our final product! All dressed out, the big ones came in at about 32 lbs each, and the small one at 18.